You Took My Love
by Cherry Ami
Summary: Kise and Aomine get stuck in an elevator after a college costume party. It's all they need to start a friendship, kind of? But then it just spirals out of control and Kise can't help these feelings, not when Aomine's looking at him like he hung the stars in the sky. Would you ruin a perfect friendship for something more profound? Aokise slow burn, fluff, smut and more. Eventual M.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:**

 **Hi there! I'm back after like a two year hiatus, and instead of updating all of my old fics, I'm just gonna start anew with this Aokise piece I came up with today. I've been neglecting writing because of a few problems I'm facing right now. Firstly, I lost all confidence in my writing skills, so I haven't written anything for almost a year. But today, out of all days, I woke up thinking that I HAVE TO get back to writing. I used to love writing, used to love reading reviews, used to write every single day. With that thought, I was like "okay, Ami, it's time. Write something, and post it. Re-learn your love for writing."**

 **That's what I'm gonna do! I hope you guys won't be super critical about my writing flaws, because it's going to take time to get back to where I was a year ago.**

 **So, anyways, I've planned 10 chapters in total, this super light fluffy slow burn thing, right? Right. Let's go!**

 **P.s. Aomine might seem a little bit OOC, but I figured I'd write the young version of Aomine, when he was happy and nice. Okay, enough of me talking, go read. Aomine is an engineering student, Kise is a journalism student.**

 **p.p.s. This fic will be crossposted on AO3 as well.  
**

 **The title comes from the song "No Ordinary Love" by The Civil Wars**

* * *

It all starts when I wobble up on my feet dressed as Batman at 2 AM in the morning, trying to lace my shoes up so I could safely go home. Kuroko's standing in the hallway, leaning against the wall, my messenger bag in his hands. He's dressed as Indiana Jones, something I've never imagined him wearing before, but here he is rocking this look like nobody's business.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright?" he asks, face unchanging. I never know if he's genuinely concerned, or just asking because he's polite.

I pull up my Batman mask so I can see better through the slits and everything _swims_. Fuck, I shouldn't have mixed vodka and tequila at the same time. "Yeah," I say, rubbing my eyes through the plastic holes. "Sure. I'm gonna call myself a taxi when I get outside."

"Okay," he nods and hands me my bag. Somehow I manage to get it on me so it _stays_ where it is, and I reach for the door handle. All this latex and fabric isn't helping me walk, but I wave goodbye and go straight for the elevator. Pushing the button, I exhale a loud breath and wait for the quiet ' _ding_ ' of my ride arriving. I want to go home, take some medicine, sleep it off, something I always do after a whole night of heavy drinking. Thankfully, I don't have classes tomorrow. I can already feel the nausea coming in the morning.

I hold myself up by sheer will, and suddenly, there's a person standing right next to me. Someone familiar. I narrow my eyes, scramble to hold up my mask so I can see their face. The slits of the mask let some light in and I clear my throat, because it's the guy Momoi introduced me to earlier, back when I wasn't shitfaced. He's handsome, and dressed in a mummy costume. Tan skin, short dark haired, he also has intense blue eyes. What was his name?

"Going home early, huh?" he says, making me snap out of my thoughts.

I wiggle my free hand and shrug, making an 'eh' sound. He flashes me a brilliant white smile. I decide I'm not that fucked to stay silent. "Daiki, right?" I ask. "Shit, I'm so sorry. Momoi told me your name, but I'm really bad at remembering stuff I heard before drinking vodka."

He huffs a snort while fixing his costume a little. "Wasn't significant enough to remember, was I?" he says and I blush. Thank fuck he can't see me underneath the mask. "It's alright. I'm not good with names either."

"Can we start over?" I say, as I hear the elevator ding.

He smirks at me, extends his hand and says "Aomine Daiki."

I fake-gasp. "So I _did_ get your last name right!" I say, carefully straightening myself so I can stand and talk at the same time. "Nice to meet you, then. I'm Kise Ryouta."

We shake on it, and walk inside of the elevator. Aomine presses the first floor button, making the elevator wheeze back to life, closing the doors on us. This god-awful music comes on, triggering my head into hurting more than it already does. We both lean back on the hand-rails; because I'm shit-drunk, I can't stand on my own two feet without any leverage.

"I know you, actually," Aomine says, making me concentrate on his velvety voice instead of elevator music. "You were playing basketball on our college team last year. I would've probably recognized you easier if you weren't wearing a Batman suit."

I watch the numbers go down from 11th floor, shifting slightly so I can lean back more comfortably. "Was I significant enough to remember?" I joke.

He's serious enough to clear his throat. "Actually, yeah. I've never seen anyone play ball like you did, not to mention the fact the team keeps losing games now that you quit."

I glance at him, and he's even more gorgeous in the dim lights of the elevator. "Do you play ball?"

Aomine raises his eyebrow, but the smile keeps tugging at his lip corners. "I used to," he says. "More into engineering now. I _do_ play basketball once in a while, like, in the college courts? With friends, mostly."

I open my mouth to ask if he's interested in playing ball with me sometime and before I can get anything out, the elevator screeches and wails, slowing up in speed. We both grab onto the rail as the elevator comes to a halt, only the rough sound of metal on metal getting through, an amazing addition to the elevator music.

The lights are still on, and I'm standing frozen, looking wide-eyed at the door. Fuck, are we stuck, or...

Aomine comes to life and steps forward to the doors, touching them with his fingers. He looks through the slit, and I release the rail. My hands are sweaty, so I wipe them off on the rough fabric of my cloak.

"Are we going to die?" I ask, half-worried, half-drunk.

Aomine looks back at me, shrugs. "Depends. We're probably stuck between floors. I have no idea where, though."

I groan and haphazardly get my stupid mask off, finally breathing in fresh air. Aomine freezes for a second, his muscles looking tense, then looks back at the doors. Bangs them a few times, then splays his fingers on the metal.

I walk over to him, and check the buttons of the elevator. "I've never been stuck in an elevator before, so I'm not sure what's the course of action when you're stranded in a metal box of death at 2 AM in the morning. Thoughts?"

Aomine tries opening the doors, but fails. I watch his neck tense up beautifully as he's huffing out his frustration, then go back to the buttons.

"We could call Kuroko, ask him to call the elevator to his floor. It could be the elevator malfunctioning, maybe triggering it from the outside would work."

I nod and fish out my phone out of my bag, rummaging through notebooks and trash I never take out of it. I pause for a second. "Could you call him? I'm not exactly sure I can be coherent enough to tell him our situation."

Aomine takes the phone out of my hands, unlocks it and laughs. "You have a picture of yourself as your lock-screen?"

"Don't judge me, mummy boy."

"Alright, princess."

We both stand there awkwardly for a few seconds it takes Aomine to find Kuroko's number and wait for him to answer. I can hear the beeps of the call in the unnerving silence, and I realize how drunk I actually am as Kuroko answers. My head's spinning, Aomine keeps wobbling in my eyesight and I need to sit down for a while.

"Fuck, hold on," Aomine says into the phone and crouches down to my level. "Are you okay?"

I breathe in through my nose and hold my breath for what feels like hours. Exhaling, I lift my eyes to meet Aomine's blue worried ones. "Yeah," I say. "Yeah, I'm good. Outdid myself with the vodka, that's all."

Aomine bites his lip, and looks up to the doors. "Hey Kuroko? You there?"

A muffled 'yes' comes out of the phone.

"I'm putting you up on speaker," Aomine says and pokes the screen. "There we go."

"Who is this?" Kuroko asks, his voice a little weird through the speaker.

"Aomine," he answers. "Look, Kise and I are stuck in the elevator, and we're kind of fucked. We tried pushing all the buttons, but we ain't moving just yet. Could you come out and call the elevator? It should work."

It seems that Kuroko is moving and I can hear him unlocking the door. After shuffling a bit, I hear the ding of the button, but our elevator stays where it is, making me put my head in my hands, the latex sticking to my sweaty skin. Aomine crawls next to me and puts his hand on my back, soothingly massaging me out of my nausea.

"It's not going up," Kuroko says.

"Yeah," Aomine echoes, and I relax under his touch. "I have no fucking idea what to do now. Kise's not feeling too well, man."

"I'm good," I slur, and Aomine just looks at me pointedly.

"There should be an emergency number above the buttons," Kuroko says, voice steady and clear. "Can you see it?"

Aomine stops massaging my back and pats on my shoulder. "Hang in there, I'm gonna get us out."

I nod and regret it instantly because my head swims more, and then he stands up, walks around me to reach the buttons. Trapping the phone between his ear and his shoulder, he touches the metal and looks at the emergency sheet.

"There's a number," he says. "You think they're gonna answer at ass in the morning?"

"They're supposed to be on call even at night," Kuroko says and Aomine hisses. I muffle my own laugh as Aomine grabs the phone from his ear and rubs it.

"God damn speaker," he mumbles underneath his breath.

"Aomine?" Kuroko says.

"Yeah?"

"Call me when you two get out of the elevator."

Aomine just looks at me, bites his lip and clears his throat. "Sure."

Kuroko ends the call. I'm leaning back against the wall, afraid of moving, so I just follow Aomine with my eyes. Fuck, the more I look at him, the more cute he is. Even with his damn mummy costume I can see he's pretty ripped, arms buff and cheekbones harsh. He's standing straight, phone in his hands, and I can't help but notice his fingers are rough but slim enough to look gentle. I catch myself smiling, and I'm too late to calm myself down when Aomine's eyes meet with mine.

"We're stuck, and you're smiling," he airs out, one eyebrow raised in question. "Are you just this drunk, or..."

"This drunk," I say and raise my hands to show him just how much. Thankfully, he snorts a silent laugh. My stomach flips, and it's not because of alcohol.

"Alright, I need you to close your eyes and sit there until help comes. Can you do that for me?"

"Okie dokie," I mumble, and before I know it, I'm passed out.

* * *

I wake up to a slow buzzing sound and our elevator rumbling into life. Aomine's talking loudly, I can hear someone else talking back outside, so it's all it takes for me to drift into consciousness.

Aomine notices me staring dreamily. He points at the door, still holding my damn phone. "The company sent out a few guys to get us out of here. I was just about to shake you awake."

I click my tongue. "Good thing you didn't, I'm about to throw up if I don't get out soon."

"Can you hold it in for a while? They're going down to call our elevator."

"No promises."

"Look, if you vomit on my costume you'll have to pay for dry cleaning."

I flash him a drunken smile. I feel so much better now that I've slept. "Deal. How long was I out?"

He shrugs. "Like two hours. Your face looks better than before, though. I had to check your pulse every now and then, because man, you looked fucking dead-pale for like an hour."

I brush my hair out of my face, still clingy with of sweat. "Shouldn't have mixed vodka and tequila. My demise," I say dramatically. Aomine's eyes look playful, so I continue. "Then again, I wouldn't have been stuck here with a really handsome guy if I didn't get too drunk for partying."

Aomine's silent after my comment, and when our elevator finally starts moving down, he helps me up on my feet. I cling to him, feeling his muscles moving underneath my fingers, and my cheeks go strawberry red thinking I went too far with flirting. I _could_ blame it on the alcohol, but Aomine's hands are still on me, even though I'm standing perfectly fine on my own.

We reach the first floor, and the doors open, revealing two elevator workers. Aomine doesn't let me go until we're out of the elevator. He talks to the guys, and thanks them for freeing us, then gets back to me. I'm hugging myself, trying not to puke my guts out, so he wraps one of my hands around his neck and helps me walk outside. Without a word, he calls a taxi through my phone, waits with me, but never says a word.

By the time the taxi arrives, I'm dead embarrassed I even opened my damn mouth in the elevator. Aomine waves at the taxi driver, leads me to the taxi and sits me inside.

"I'm sorry..." I start, but Aomine shushes me by climbing in next to me.

He sits close enough that our shoulder press together and puts his hand on the front seat. "You know the student dorms?" Aomine proceeds telling the driver the address to the dorms, and I relax my shoulders. I'm vaguely worried that we're going to the dorms instead of my apartment, but then again, I don't have any strength in me left to tell Aomine my address. I sag against the seats, and Aomine's body heat makes me sleepy, but I pay attention to his voice, his tone weirdly calming in this situation. I'm drunk, and he's here, so I just conk out again, thinking how nice it feels when his arm wraps around me again.

Then, I'm gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hi, I'm back with chapter two. I hope you guys are enjoying the story. I'm getting the hang of this, I guess, but I'm not too sure if everything's consistent and understandable. If there are any mistakes, ignore them, they'll be fixed eventually. Enjoy!**

* * *

I'm drifting in and out of consciousness, still dreaming something abstract but at the same time I can smell someone cooking bacon. The sizzling from the kitchen makes me blink one eye open, and suddenly I'm tense as hell. Who the hell is in my apartment? I never have people over, unless it's Kuroko.

Kuroko can't cook for shit.

I take in my surroundings. I'm still fully dressed, covered in dark blue sheets, which are definitely not mine. It's warm beneath the covers, and I'm hugging a pillow, bigger than the one I use. I quickly jump up to a sitting position hurrying to let go of the pillow, and breathe in for a few seconds. My head throbs a little from all the alcohol I consumed yesterday, so I rub my temples before opening my eyes again and looking around for clues as to where I am.

The room is small, but comfortable. There's a study table in front of the bed, covered with books and practice sheets. The walls are covered in obscure rap bands I've never heard of, some of them with half-naked girls posing inappropriately in front of the camera. The bed is somewhat huge for one person, but I still barely fit with my height and all. I shuffle out of the bed, putting my feet on the cold ground and hiss at the feeling. Someone took my shoes and socks off, but left my Batman suit where it was. My messenger bag is neatly placed on a chair next to the bed, so I check if everything's there. My phone's missing.

Groaning, I slap my hand on my forehead. Did I lose my phone somewhere? How the hell am I gonna get home now that it's gone?

I check the bed, and reluctantly get up to check the table as well. My phone's nowhere to be seen, but I finally find out where I am. I vaguely remember Aomine Daiki helping me out of the elevator we were stuck in, and there he is in a picture, hugging Momoi, smiling like there's no tomorrow. He's younger, less muscular in the picture, and it just makes me think of how handsome he's grown.

Starting to remember things from last night, I go out of the room to find a small kitchen joined with the living room. There's a guy sitting on the couch munching on a waffle in between takes of playing a console game. In a sudden mess of thoughts, I recognize him.

"Kagami?" I air out, and he turns to me with raised eyebrows.

"What the fuck," he says after putting the waffle down.

Then I see Aomine cooking in the kitchen, back turned on us. He's dressed in a black hoodie and matching jeans. "You two know each other?"

My mouth is open in surprise, so I just look to Kagami, then to Aomine again. When Kagami unceremoniously starts the game once more, I brush my hair back nervously. "Kagamicchi, you never told me you had a roommate."

Kagami scoffs. "You never asked."

Aomine coughs from the kitchen. "Alright, obviously I'm gonna have an easier time leaving you two alone then," he says, then walks over to the refrigerator. Takes a Red Bull out, sets it next to his coffee machine and makes himself a cup of coffee.

"Do you have classes today?" I ask, when Aomine loudly opens the Red Bull and dumps half of it into the cup.

I fall silent the second he takes a sip, grimacing. Aomine salutes me by lifting the cup, then taking his backpack off one of the kitchen chairs. "Yup. Like six of them. See you around, Batman boy," he says and leaves the dorm room.

For a second, I'm baffled and pissed at the same time because for one, what he did was extremely unhealthy for his heart, and for two, I didn't get to thank him for yesterday. I'm also feeling a little too tight in my Batman suit, and that's when Kagami removes his waffle from his mouth, pausing the game. "He left you some clothes you can change into in his room. Honestly I thought you two were going to bang when you got back here at 3 a.m, but judging from your uhhh..." he pauses to wave his hand in my general direction, then proceeds talking. "Attire?.. You were dead asleep. Here's your phone." He hands me the phone, and I quickly check for messages and calls.

Then, I nod solemnly, focusing on one point and thinking about last night. "I only met him yesterday, at Kuroko's."

"Aomine transferred here this semester. Momoi mentioned him a few times and hooked us up as roommates, so here he is."

"Okay," I say. Pause. "Why weren't you at the party?"

"You know why," he says, looking at the TV screen instead of me.

I hug myself, and feel how the latex moves on my sweaty body. I gotta get out of this damn thing, but first I'm here for my friend. "When are you gonna talk to him, then? It's been a month."

"Not your fucking business."

I raise my hands in defense. "All I'm saying is that he misses you. He's told me as much."

Kagami's hands freeze on the controller, but he still doesn't meet my eyes. He breathes in and breathes out, biting his lip. "Get off my back, Ryouta. I'm trying to live my life in peace, man, you're not helping."

"Okay, I'll shut up."

"You better."

We're both silent for a few seconds, when Kagami points at the kitchen. "If you want some breakfast, have at it. Aomine's made some bacon and eggs."

Sighing, I shake my head no. "I'll just change and be out of your hair," I say and finally, Kagami glances at me. "I don't wanna be harsh, Kagamicchi, but I haven't seen you in over three _weeks_. That doesn't sound like you at all, so if you ever need to talk, or _see_ someone, just...text me, okay?"

Kagami turns the game on. "I already told you, I'm peachy. Don't you have to get back home?"

That hurts a little, but I don't comment. Ever since Kuroko and Kagami broke up, our little friendship circle has gone square. I've been getting Kuroko to open up about the thing, but the whole situation got so out of hand, we kind of started drinking more than actual face-to-face talking.

"Alright," I breathe and get back to Aomine's room to find neatly folded clothes on top of the chair I avoided earlier. There's a note on top " _Kise_ ", so I somehow wiggle out of the damn costume, and put on a pair of sweats and a college hoodie that smells like detergent. Grabbing my messenger bag, I get out after exchanging good-byes with Kagami. The air outside hits my lungs, and my stomach instantly feels a little better. I call a taxi, get back home, fall face-first on my bed and sleep.

* * *

A week later, I'm doing laundry in my apartment, taking care of washed clothing and listening to music on full blast. There I am, faced with Aomine Daiki's clothing, sitting on top of a freshly ironed pile. I haven't talked to any of my friends for 7 full days, except for Kuroko, who is in my journalism class. It's almost mid-term season, so I'm stuck studying at my apartment most of the nights, which only makes it harder to return clothes to Aomine.

I finish folding the rest of my laundry, go to the kitchen and call Momoi.

She answers after a few short beeps. "Kise? Hi!"

"Hi," I say getting a soda out of the fridge. "I know it's early, but I really need Aomine's number. I've gotta return the clothes I borrowed from him last week."

"You. Um. Borrowed his clothes."

I grimace at the comment. "I swear, it's not like that. Remember how we both got stuck in an elevator? He brought me home so I could sleep off the nausea. I got extremely shit-faced and going back home with a latex Batman suit wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had."

She laughs. "Sure thing. I'll send his number over once I'm done making breakfast."

"Thanks, I'll owe you."

"Hey, none of that. _I'm_ not the one who did the walk of shame in someone's clothes."

"I didn't do the walk of shame, I -"

"Ok _aaay_ , pretty boy, calm down. Just fucking with you."

She hangs up on me. I make myself some toast and butter it when I hear my phone beep. Once I have his number, I put him on the contact list and concentrate on starting my day right.

Well into the afternoon, I'm editing my blog for an assignment. When I'm bored out of my mind correcting the same HTML, I stare at my phone which is lying next to the keyboard and think; alright, Kise. You're going to call Aomine Daiki and get his clothing back to him, because that's what a normal person _does_. You borrow, and then you give back. Maybe it won't be weird.

With that thought, I grab my phone and dial his number before I have any objections thought up. It beeps and beeps until I give up, pressing the red button. He might be studying, or in class. Curious, I look him up on Facebook. His profile picture is simple, him standing dressed in a suit, barely smiling at the camera. I look through his interests, seeing half of them match mine and nod to myself in approval. Clicking through his photo albums, I find his pictures from the party and I'm surprised to see myself in one of the group photos, awkwardly standing with a bottle of vodka in my hand. Thankfully, my face doesn't show through the mask, so I'm saved from embarrassment. Aomine, however, is photogenic enough to look charming in his Mummy costume, so I nearly click 'like' on the picture solely because of him.

As I'm debating on adding him to my friend list, my phone rings. I answer it automatically, still looking at the screen.

"What's up?" I say, scrolling through Aomine's timeline.

"Who is this?" A low voice asks, and I'm startled. I check my phone to see it's Aomine calling me back. Speak of the devil, right?

"It's Kise," I say, wiping my sweaty hand on my jeans. "You know, the drunk Batman from the party?"

He pauses for a millisecond, then goes, "Ohhhh."

"Yeah, well," I mumble. "I got your number from Momoi."

"I know."

"I wanted to bring your clothes...Wait," I say, his comment only now registering in my brain. "What do you mean 'you know'."

"Listen, buddy," Aomine says. "I have no idea what you got into her head, but she thinks I've been one-night-standing you."

"I didn't tell her anything like that, I only explained why I had your clothes."

"I _know_ ," he sighs into the phone. "I wanted to apologize for her fucking behavior. That lady sure knows how to twist the situation into something it's not, especially when it comes to me meeting new people. Fuck knows how many people she's fooled into thinking I'm fucking everything that moves."

"Which you're obviously not doing..?"

He chuckles into the phone, making me grin. "I'm not really into sharing and caring, Batman boy. We should leave this topic for another time. You said something about my clothes?"

"Oh yeah," I say, remembering we're talking for a reason. "I got your hoodie and sweats washed, and I've been wondering if I could bring them to you when you're free?"

"Okay."

"Yeah, so. When, um, would you be free. I mean."

I hear him doing something and shuffling around. Before he answers, something crashes on the other side of the line. "Shit," he curses.

"Are you okay?"

"Uh," he mumbles something into the receiver. "Okay, shit. Look, I'm cooking some pasta up for dinner, do you wanna come over? Kagami's out, and I'm not overly good with calculating portions, so I'm making a ton of penne for just one person."

"That sounds a little sad."

He's huffing something out, then all the sounds ease up and he's back to talking with me. "Dude. Come over."

I bite my lip, staring at his Facebook page opened up, watching his brilliant smile in one of the pictures. "You sure you want to see me sober? I'm not that good at jokes when I'm deprived of vodka."

"As long as you don't bore me with school talk, we're good. Just fucking come over."

"Be there in fifteen."


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Hi! Sorry for the late upload. I hope you like this chapter though!_

* * *

Aomine answers the door after my second knock, dressed in a tank-top, black jeans and rainbow colored socks. For a second, I'm watching him like he's watching me; like a damn hawk. I hold out a bag full of groceries.

"I brought snacks."

He takes the bag out of my hands, showing me inside at the same time. "You didn't have to, man. I have a fuck-ton of food on the table."

Aomine's dorm room is just as I remember it, tidy and clean, but this time Kagami's not there. "Where is Kagami, anyway? Not to be rude, but he hasn't gone out with us in a long time."

Aomine shrugs, and I follow him into the kitchenette, immediately noticing large bowls of pasta on the counters and on the table in front. I want to comment, I'm _craving_ to make a pun, but I refuse to make an ass out of myself when I'm the guest in this house.

He lowers the heat on one of the pots, then stirs the sauce a few times. "I'm not his fucking watch-guard," Aomine says, tasting the sauce. He closes his eyes as his tongue flicks on the ladle, a solemn smile creeping up on his face, deeming the sauce good enough to eat. "He never tells me where he's going, unless he's up for playing ball with me. The guy is a fucking riot, I never know what to expect from him."

I nod, rummaging through the grocery bag. I take out a wine bottle, place it in between pasta bowls. Aomine snorts upon seeing me handle alcohol with care. Glaring at him, I ask for an opener.

While Aomine's searching the cupboards for a cork-popper, I settle into one of the chairs around the table. The room smells amazing, so my stomach nearly growls. From the looks of it, Aomine's a great cook, which only makes me want food more. I'm not as great at cooking, seeing how I can only make instant noodles and an omelet. Kagami used to cook for all of us back when Kuroko and he were dating.

Aomine hands me the popper, so I take the precious time to open my wine. While I'm popping the cork, Aomine disappears inside of his room.

"Hey, mind if I find some glasses for the wine?" I holler, and hear a distant 'yes'.

When I can't find any glasses classy enough for our 'little' dinner, I keep thinking about Kagami. He hasn't been out with us for so long, I'm starting to forget his stupid jokes and how fun it was playing basketball in between our classes. He'd call me in the middle of the night for slurpees, or hamburger runs, and we'd always end up laughing our asses off somewhere on a McDonald's parking lot. I take two awfully decorated cups, rinse them with water and check if the sauce didn't burn. As I'm pouring generous amounts of wine into the cups, Aomine comes back into the kitchen and slams tequila next to the wine bottle, smiling like he made the greatest joke in the world.

"Seriously?" I ask, unable to mask my own smile.

"Got anywhere else to be tonight?" Aomine asks, taking the cup of wine from me. "C'mon, we both need to chill before mid-terms."

"You're making me look like an alcoholic."

"Nah," Aomine grins. "Am I?"

His damn charm keeps growing on me, I can't help but smile back. We clink the cups, and sip respectful amounts before Aomine sets his cup down and starts serving us giant heaps of pasta. The sauce looks delicious, a wonderful heap of tomatoes, minced meat and herbs. My mouth waters when we clear the kitchen table, sit down with our cups of wine and dig in.

I take the first bite, and moan around the fork, the flavor bursting in my mouth. I find Aomine staring at me, eyebrows raised, mouth slack and his own bite halfway to his mouth. I flush a little, then laugh it off. "Fuck, you're good at cooking."

Aomine's eyes dart to his food, his free hand goes to the back of his neck rubbing the skin a little. "Thanks, man," he says and digs in.

We make small talk throughout the meal. I find out he's been playing basketball since he was little, and yet, he chose a different path when he finished high-school. Momoi went to the same school as him, and their parents were really close.

I also talk a little about myself, Aomine asking most of the questions. We talk about our dreams, aspirations, about good food and basketball teams. I find that I'm enjoying myself more than I thought I would, and for once, I'm not thinking about how my friends became bleak after so much drama. Completely forgetting Kagami and Kuroko, I drown in Aomine's exciting stories, right up until he's cleaning the plates, and I'm wiping them with a clean towel.

Aomine keeps laughing at my Batman costume from the party. "Has anyone ever told you you're the last person on Earth to even resemble Bruce Wayne in any way?"

"Ah, yes," I say, putting the clean dish into the cupboard above me. "Sure. I show them my Bat-cave and _bam_ , I get comments about how I'm not actually Bruce Wayne."

"You have a Bat-cave?" Aomine gasps dramatically.

I smirk at him. "I already own a Batman costume," I say. "Why stop there?"

Aomine's eyes sparkle, a small smile is playing at his lips. "Y'know, I was a mummy and yet I have no pyramid."

"Because you rented out your damn costume, nerd," I deadpan as he laughs.

He splashes tap water on me with his fingers, and I start laughing myself.

After we finish drying all the dishes and put the pasta in separate containers,fitting them inside of the big fridge, Aomine offers me the first shot of tequila. I think about my mid-term papers, about how much I have to study since I have an exam in four days, but the rueful look on Aomine makes all of those thoughts go away and I down the first one, chasing the taste away with lemon and salt.

* * *

I'm buzzed, I'm happy, and Aomine is howling laughing at the TV, the bottle of tequila in his hands. I'm sprawled on the sofa, we're watching basketball. Aomine's standing, his face flushed with alcohol and he's pointing at the TV.

"Did you see that? Did you see how he made the _fucking_ three pointer?"

"I can do better," I point at the screen as well, grinning from ear to ear.

Aomine shakes his finger at the TV again, making me watch the repeat of the three-pointer. "No no, look again! Fuck! Man, I've never seen a better shot in my entire _life_."

"I'm looking! I'm honestly looking," I wave at the TV, stand up, snag the bottle out of his hand. I drink and slap his pointing hand down. "Hey, hey, eyes on me." And he looks at me.

His eyes are so blue and I'm not sure what the hell I'm doing, it's nearing 1 AM, but I don't care. I want to play ball.

"Bet you on a slurpee I can do a better shot," I say.

Aomine keeps on smiling, his eyes wild and I'm even more obsessed about showing him how good I am at basketball. "A slurpee? Oh fuck, you're so on."

"Oh yes, we're so on. I'm gonna fucking ace that shot so well, you're going to buy me the biggest slushie at the shittiest 7 Eleven in town."

Fifteen minutes later, I'm hitting the ball on the ground, bouncing it in between my hands, and Aomine claps into the night, chanting my name. I focus on the basket, zoning in on the shot, feeling my whole body thrum with excitement. I get into position, crouching a little and holding the basketball in my hands, tipping it enough to make that shot count.

Aomine's cheering so loud, my ears keep ringing and the second I'm drawing in a breath, I channel my inner basketball player. I throw.

It's all in slow motion; the ball flying through the air,Aomine jumping up, his feet lifting off the ground and his fists clenched and rising up with him. His mouth is open in a victory shout, eyes wide with happiness, eyebrows so high he looks a little surprised. I'm drinking him in, and then the ball hits the side of the board, so far off my target it's embarrassing I even tried throwing.

Aomine's roaring with laughter, and I groan out loud.

"Best. Fucking. Throw. I've ever witnessed!" Aomine runs up to me, laughing so hard he has tears in his eyes. "It just went – _poof bam_ – and didn't go through, how cool was _that_."

I'm infected with his amusement, and I'm laughing with him instead of crawling out of my skin. "I'm _drunk_ , what the hell did you expect?"

He slaps me on the shoulder, and laughs with his whole body tipped back a little. Aomine looks so carefree, I almost wish I met him sooner. I haven't felt this relaxed in ages. My mind filters all the stress and concentrates on Aomine's shining face. For a second, I think how he's almost my height but I feel smaller somehow. Aomine seems to grow on me every second.

"Throw it again," Aomine says, putting his hands on top of my shoulders, squeezing a bit. "Play ball with me."

And we do.

We drunkenly stumble and giggle like idiots. I tend to overlook how Aomine scores every time he throws, slam-dunking the ball with enough force to make the whole board shake. The first time I make a shot, he screams out my name while hugging my neck with his one hand. I laugh so hard my stomach hurts, so we don't hear when the campus guard enters the grounds, shouting at us and waving his flashlight like a madman.

It takes me a second to gather my thoughts and see Aomine flipping the guard off. It all dawns on me, all crashes right through, and for a blinding moment I feel free. Adrenaline courses through my blood, makes the nervous feeling in my chest go away, and I don't care about anything but Aomine's clutching my hand in his, dragging me with him.

We run, run toward the fence laughing our lungs out, and Aomine lets go of my hand so we can climb the fence. The guard runs after us, but he's not fit enough to catch us, so we jump down the fence, roll on the grass, and then Aomine is grabbing for my hand again. His palm is sweaty, slippery in mine, but I squeeze just as hard when he squeezes back.

* * *

The ground is cold, but Aomine's sitting close to me, our shoulders touching. We're slurping blue slurpees in a parking lot behind 7 Eleven, silent for the very first time tonight. I check my phone to see it's 4 AM, so I finish off my slurpee and stand up. Aomine looks at me as I throw away my cup, still sipping his through a giant straw. The lights of the parking lot illuminate him, and I laugh at how ridiculous he looks sitting on the cold ground.

He stops slurping. "What the fuck are you laughing at?"

"At you," I say, shoving my hands down the pockets of my jeans. "Tonight was fun. We should do it again."

He pauses before slurping again and staring at me.

I sigh. "Don't leave me hanging, dude, I just went through the embarrassment of admitting I needed to relax."

Aomine shrugs and smiles, putting the cup on the ground. "I've seen you around campus, seen you play ball. Honestly, I've never pegged you as a guy who would drink fucking slurpees with me while sitting behind a 7 Eleven."

I grin back, rocking on my heels. "What did you peg me as, then? Enlighten me."

He waved a nonchalant hand at my general direction. "You always hang out with the cool kids, you look like a model. Man, don't get me wrong, but I always thought you had a foot up your ass."

I nod along. "Okay, sure. Did that change?"

He cocks an eyebrow up. "Obviously."

"Right. Well, thank you. I mean. For changing your mind about me and a foot up my ass."

"I didn't mean it literally."

"Listen, I'm not really into shoving foots up anyone's ass, just FYI."

Aomine laughs, head tipped back. "Alright, okay, I get it! You don't have a fucking foot fetish."

"I _might_ ," I say. "Doesn't mean I _do._ "

He snorts and I join him on the ground again. We look up at the sky, clouded and dark, no stars at all. Still looks pretty cool though. The night is warm, the ground is cold, and Aomine is in between.

Our legs touch when I stretch them out, but Aomine doesn't move away. He grabs his drink, holds it out into the air and says, "To a great night."

"To a great night," I echo.

We stay like this until the sun creeps up and Aomine walks me home.


End file.
